A 44-year-old truck driver from Arizona died this morning when he drove his Kenworth off an Interstate 70 exit ramp into Clear Creek.
The rig spilled an undetermined amount of the oil-and-gravel road base. It also leaked about 100 gallons of diesel fuel in the creek, according to the Colorado State Patrol.
Hazardous material crews and local fire units contained the spill, and a private environmental reclamation company has begun work at the site, according to a statement from troopers.
The Clear Creek County coroner’s office said it wasn’t clear whether Octavio Schaffino was wearing a seatbelt in the rollover at U.S. 6. at about 9:40 a.m.
Schaffino failed to navigate the curve in the exit ramp and crashed through a guard rail, rolling 110 feet down the embankment and going airborne into the creek.
The rig is owned by A.A.O./Arviso Inc. of Commerce City, troopers said.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but drugs and alcohol do not appear to be a factor, the agency stated.
This is the third such accident in as many weeks, but the first fatality. Nearly three weeks ago, a tanker truck carrying asphalt up Poudre Canyon on Colorado 14 lost control and tumbled into the Cache LaPoudre River below.
The next week, another asphalt tanker truck flipped off the road a few miles to the east of the first crash and dumped roughly the same amount of asphalt into the water.
